A Liberal spender

The decision by
Primary Health Care
’s
Ed Bateman
to fund his own media campaign against the Labor Party last year was extraordinary enough. Now we know he also donated $250,000 to the federal Liberals in the last financial year.

Dr Bateman has repeatedly made his views plain on changes introduced by the federal Labor government, saying at various times that these have cut in to the company’s revenues and weakened the health system overall.

In August 2009, Dr Bateman and his wife Belinda made a $50,000 donation to the Liberals. This was followed by a $200,000 payment in May last year. And they wrote a $300 cheque for the NSW Liberal Party in the same month.

In Western Australia, the hospital planning consultancy Health Solutions (WA) made a $125,000 donation to the state’s Liberals last April. The donation was the first for the company, which is contracted to run a public hospital at Mandurah, south of Perth, since 2008, when it gave $15,000 each to Labor and the Liberals in WA less than two weeks before the state election that saw the Liberals defeat the ALP government.

The Australian Electoral Office records show the publicly owned medical device company
ResMed
made a $50,000 donation to the federal Liberal Party in the last financial year. Others in the health business, or that represent those who are, preferred to spread their donations across the country. The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, which acts for pharmacy owners, gave $17,376 to Labor in 2009-10. This donation was made up of 10 separate payments to the ALP in Victoria. The guild gave substantially more, close to $46,000, to the Liberal Party but this was sprinkled across more than 40 donations at the federal, NSW and Victorian level.

Drug giant Pfizer was a big giver to both of the two major parties, as in previous years, and it also spread its donations across various levels. The maker of the world’s biggest selling prescription drug, the cholesterol-lowering Lipitor, gave $49,615 to the Liberal Party organisation in Canberra and various other capital cities. The company’s five donations to the ALP came to $45,240.

The Health Insurance Restricted Membership Association of Australia made 13 donations on behalf of its members, a group of restricted and regional health funds. These included a $16,000 payment to the Liberal Party in Victoria and a $13,200 donation to the federal arm of the ALP.